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:::But the category you're describing is not a bunch of questions; the entries in it are not themselves questions. (Such a category would contain things like "to be or not to be?", "how much wood can a woodchuck chuck?", "how did the chicken cross the road", etc.) The elements of the category are ''types of'' questions. This is different than, for example, [[:Category:Indochine albums]], where all the entries are actually Indochine albums. And I don't see anything in MoS proscribing certain kinds of category titles. <b class="IPA">[[Special:Contributions/Rjanag|r<font color="#8B0000">ʨ</font>anaɢ]]</b>&nbsp;([[User talk:Rjanag|talk]]) 21:14, 6 April 2010 (UTC)
:::But the category you're describing is not a bunch of questions; the entries in it are not themselves questions. (Such a category would contain things like "to be or not to be?", "how much wood can a woodchuck chuck?", "how did the chicken cross the road", etc.) The elements of the category are ''types of'' questions. This is different than, for example, [[:Category:Indochine albums]], where all the entries are actually Indochine albums. And I don't see anything in MoS proscribing certain kinds of category titles. <b class="IPA">[[Special:Contributions/Rjanag|r<font color="#8B0000">ʨ</font>anaɢ]]</b>&nbsp;([[User talk:Rjanag|talk]]) 21:14, 6 April 2010 (UTC)
::::You are right. There are two types of questions. If you want to create subcategories for them, go right ahead. For now, I will simply populate the generic question categories, and I'll look forward to see how it evolves (with subcats). I do however think that "types of questions" is not a good name, still, I checked and there is already a bunch of Category:Type of... so I won't oppose it. Presumably, the other category would be [[:Category:Questions by subject]]? --<sub><span style="border:1px solid #228B22;padding:1px;">[[User:Piotrus|Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus]]|[[User_talk:Piotrus|<font style="color:#7CFC00;background:#006400;"> talk </font>]]</span></sub> 01:05, 7 April 2010 (UTC)
::::You are right. There are two types of questions. If you want to create subcategories for them, go right ahead. For now, I will simply populate the generic question categories, and I'll look forward to see how it evolves (with subcats). I do however think that "types of questions" is not a good name, still, I checked and there is already a bunch of Category:Type of... so I won't oppose it. Presumably, the other category would be [[:Category:Questions by subject]]? --<sub><span style="border:1px solid #228B22;padding:1px;">[[User:Piotrus|Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus]]|[[User_talk:Piotrus|<font style="color:#7CFC00;background:#006400;"> talk </font>]]</span></sub> 01:05, 7 April 2010 (UTC)
:::::I created [[:Category:Question]], and a bot will take care of recategorizing the pages. I chose this as a name because the one thing that seems to be linking together the things you categorized is that they are somehow related to questions (or, at the very least, have "question" in their title). Many of the pages are not specific questions (e.g., "yes-no question", "leading question"), may are not types of questions (e.g., "Fourteen unanswerable questions"), and many are not questions at all but are issues (e.g., "Jewish question", "woman question") or are just things that happen to have questions in them (e.g. "FAQ", "questionnaire"). Since the only thing holding all these together is that they are at least tangentially related to "Question" (at the very least, they have that word in them), none of the other names are really appropriate. Adopting the terms used at [[WP:Categorization#The category system]], this would be a ''topic category'' rather than a ''set category''. <b class="IPA">[[Special:Contributions/Rjanag|r<font color="#8B0000">ʨ</font>anaɢ]]</b>&nbsp;([[User talk:Rjanag|talk]]) 04:21, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

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Is there any point in keeping this page? --Woggly 13:11, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Yes, see my justification of the VFD page. When I wrote this it was intended to be unstubbed by people with more background in philosophy than me. There are many more types of questions. I do agree that recent edits with links to List of famous questions have not done the page any good. Jfdwolff 15:10, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Discussion from VfD (consensus to keep)

Dic defn moved here from speedy deletions - this is not a vote. theresa knott 13:48, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

  • Keep. There's lost of philosophy surrounding "questions". I do favour a revert to my original; the link to list of famous questions doesn't do it any good. Jfdwolff 15:01, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep. Agree with Jfdwolff. Warofdreams 15:32, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Change my vote to Keep, due to added content.--Woggly 09:18, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. Seems more like a dictionary definition. Sander123 15:39, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • I do not think a page which may include a good study on to be or not to be, that is the question, ought to be deleted. Keep and let's hope someone will improve it. Pfortuny 15:59, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete - there's nothing there. If anybody decides they want to do a philosophical treatment of questions, they can make a new one. -- Cyrius 20:22, Mar 25, 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep and list on cleanup. Good topic, some good material and some mistakes, already more than a stub. Andrewa 23:18, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep. Grammar good missing tonal indicator? Could cover more topics e.g. learning & teaching with questions, children. -- Zigger 20:42, 2004 Mar 28 (UTC)
  • Keep. An important concept in research, as well as education. I've put in a little about them. --zandperl 04:10, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

A few things I'd like to see

  • Information on questions and their grammatical structure in other languages. Surely there are some languages in the world with interestingly different ways of expressing questions. How do you say "what is the meaning of life" in Sanskrit?
  • A treatment of questions' philosophical and scientific aspects. Maybe we could add mentions of the mathematical Millennium Prize problems, questions of social problems, and other enduring questions. Here's a sort of interesting short list of scientific questions, though it seems rather too credulous of what may very well be junk science. A treatment of "To be or not to be," as Pfortuny suggested, would also be very good. I intend to add these sometime.
  • Whatever happened to List of famous questions? I assume it probably got filled up with irrelevant questions and was subsequently deleted. Still, there should be some sort of compilation of enduring questions.
    Mr. Billion 19:56, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Right... I added the word Interrogate to the See also list. Simply because the word 'Question' is listed in the glossary of Roget's 1979 Thesaurus with the subheadings of Doubt, Inquiry, and Interrogate. Contextual example: "I have the questioned/interrogated the suspect about his alleged involvement in the robbery."Drakonicon 18:59, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Famous Questions

The Historical Buddha, Guatama Siddharta, apparently asked 14 unanswerable questions to assist people in attaining enlightenment. I will try and find one from the Buddhist literature and Sanskrit translations. The 4-cornered truth asks four such questions, using philosophical thought to unwind the need for philosophical thought, usually as a philosophical conundrum about the state of reality.Drakonicon 17:58, 18 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In response to Mr. Billion above, i thought i'd start up the list here. Maybe we should place famous ones here in the talk and place them all under review? Maybe the question needs to be referenced by who said it? Is it answerable? (If not answerable, then deserves to be here in my view). Does have moral, social, integrity, etc... As Mr. Billion pointed out, it could easily get out of hand. Maybe it should be limited to say 5 Questions:: simply to show examples of Good and Famous Questions. Maybe with these subheadings: A Philosophical Question, A Religious Question, A Scientific Question... etc. Pick a category -find a deep and enigmatic question? I'll start it off. I realise that the quotes i have offered need to be sourced far more accurately. I suppose these two quotes operate like Zen koans:

  • "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" - Bishop Berkeley, Philosopher, 17??
  • "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody sees, does it still make a noise?" - Bishop Berkeley, Philosopher, 17??

Request for request

Why does this article refer to the request article that merely redirects back here? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.20.215.126 (talkcontribs) 10:40, 6 July 2006.

Cleanup needed.

I'm removing the 2 links to request in the lead paragraph. (request redirects to Question...). I'm also changing its category to Grammar, as it's all by itself in category:questions, and appears to have been for some time. Other cleanup is needed, for instance the "Grammar" sections ends by referring to three types of sentences, but then only mentions one of them. Also the first sentence is extremely long, as is the lead section overall. --Quiddity·(talk) 06:19, 9 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

External links

I've removed these external links:

I believe their place isn't this article. MJGR 08:53, 21 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Please find sources . . .

Will some expert who know about such things kindly source the following?

  • The programme broadcast on September 13, 2001, which was devoted to the political implications of the 9/11 attacks that had occurred two days before, featured many contributions from the audience taking the view that such attacks had been made inevitable by the course of United States foreign policy. When opinions were expressed that were critical of America, certain sections of the audience became carried away in agreement, and despite David Dimbleby's efforts, their contribution degenerated from debate into a prolonged and humiliating attack on America and Americans. [citation needed] Although the temporary breakdown of order is not unknown on Question Time, the event struck many as particularly insensitive given the recent nature of tragedy, leading to questions about the wisdom of screening a live edition at such a time. A member of the panel, Philip Lader, the former US ambassador to Britain, was reported in several publications as being "near tears" during the broadcast. The BBC received over 2,000 complaints about the edition and later apologised to viewers for causing offence, stating that the edition should have been recorded and edited. [citation needed]

Sincerely, GeorgeLouis 07:27, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Declarative question

Some English speakers give interrogative intonation to otherwise perfectly affirmative sentences. Can we please include this aspect in the article? I'm not aware of this trait in any other language, but I'd be interested to know.

For example (not a very good one): "Yesterday? I went to the shopping centre? I coulnd't believe it, the sales had started!" 205.228.73.11 15:08, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There's no question about it. (Hah!) See High rising terminal, also known as uptalk. You might want to read Valspeak and Valley girl as well. --Kjoonlee 18:59, 9 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Indirect questions

"Indirect question" redirects here, but that term is not even mentioned. Perhaps I could ask, indirectly of course, if someone would care to write something about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.47.23 (talk) 01:42, 18 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

pointer to divert new editors questions

Recommend putting a pointer hatnote to Wikipedia:Questions as an aid to new editors looking to ask them rather than an article. LeeVJ (talk) 16:05, 3 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Thanks for the suggestion. Graham87 08:34, 4 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks :) LeeVJ (talk) 22:15, 4 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Negative questions & statements

Hello, I'm an English teacher in South Korea and the issue of negative questions as touched on in the article would be well worth expanding, being such a gigantic source of misunderstanding across the world: even competant speakers who've studied the language for years, but who haven't lived in a native speaking community, haven't got a clue about this and their communication is seriously impaired because you just do not know whether they mean yes or no in their answers, and this formation being absolutely central to conversational English. Yet it's something often only touched on in textbooks. These are part of my notes for lessons, which have lost all their italicization and colouring etc...


Lesson objective

To familiarize students with the principle for the responses required for showing agreement or disagreement to negatively phrased questions and statements.

It’s a matter of using yes and no correctly in simple conversations so is of great importance, if somewhat difficult to convey because of its fundamental position in the language.

It remains a major source of confusion throughout the world where English is spoken by learners and is probably the most misunderstood aspect of the entire language.

It’s an easy mistake to make but if wrong, native speakers will struggle or in many cases be entirely unable to understand answers to simple questions (and unfortunately it tends to seem bizarre, hearing yes when someone means no).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I’ll talk alone for a few minutes- not too long! (with co-teacher translating if pos, as nec), then each of you can talk with me in some examples. Will try to get through quickly.

In English you say no not yes to agree with questions or statements with negative words in.

The formation happens continuously in conversation, often many times a minute.

It's very confusing- to hear yes when you mean no! or to try to disagree with the speaker by saying no! or to take no from the native speaker to mean they don’t agree with you- when they do!

This is a common English learner’s error- in many countries.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A sequence of positives, of course, stays positive, eg-

+2 x +4 (= +8) x +2 (= +16) x +3 (= +48) x +2 (= +96)…

But a sequence of negatives alternates between positive and negative, because two negatives make a positive Eg-

-2 x -4 (= +8) x -2 (= -16) x -3 (= +48) x -2 (= -96)…

(By this logic you’d only need one negative, plus any number of positives to say that the negative is true.)

However, negatives in English responses aren’t like this. Instead they work the same as the positives- and simply stay negative. Eg-

-2 x -4 (= -8) x -2 (= -16) x -3 (= -48) x -2 (= -96)…

Additional negatives just reinforce the message, not change it. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

These are the words to listen out for-

no, nobody, nothing, never, or not including-

doesn’t, wasn’t, isn’t, don’t, won’t, can’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, aren’t etc

When you hear these and you want to agree with the question or statement, the rule is to agree with its content, not whether it’s true or not.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To show agreement you match negative with negative.

There can be double, triple or many more negatives in a question or statement, but they only reinforce not reverse the meaning: this is a convention and isn’t logical.

If you want to agree-

When the speaker is saying yes, you say yes.

And if they’re saying no, you say no.

These questions are expecting you to to agree and say no.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx For instance-

If you do not have a camel, you answer no to both these questions-

A. Do you have a camel?

B. No

A. Don’t you have a camel?/ You have no camel?

B. No (ie match not/ no with no to show assent or agreement)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Always say, for instance

No she won’t, no.

Never

Yes she won’t, yes.

& never

No she won’t, yes.

& never

Yes she won’t, no.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Or

Didn’t you sleep well last night?

No, I didn’t. Not Yes, I didn’t


Or

Won’t she get back by Monday?

No, she won’t. Not Yes, she won’t

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx If you want to agree with someone who is saying yes, you say yes.

And similarly if you want to agree with someone who is saying no, you say no (not yes).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More technically Question- The computer doesn’t work? (when it doesn’t). No. -meaning ‘It doesn’t work.’ (or No, it doesn’t.) (still a double negative) and not meaning No, it does. (or, No, it does not not work).

Or, Statement- It’s not an easy test. (when it isn’t) No. -meaning ‘It isn’t.’ (or No, it isn’t.) (still a double negative)

    and not meaning No, it is.

(or, It’s not not easy). xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx So, you can say the phrases-

Yes it is, yes. or No it isn’t, no.

For instance- (use a pen)

A Is the pen on the desk?

B Yes it is, yes. (Easy because content and truth are the same)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A The pen isn’t on the desk?

  Or- Isn’t the pen on the desk?

B No it isn’t, no. Not Yes it isn’t, yes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Some expressions in describing things-

It’s not too cold, no.

No, it won’t work, no.

There’s nobody there, no.

No, it’s never too late.

She wouldn’t come, no.

No, there’s nothing there.

The service in the shop isn’t good, no not at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The logic for matching negative to negative to show agreement comes from other negative responses for agreeing-

Get a student to read (A) and me read (B), repeating again to read the second (B)

You don’t say yes or nod, or show enthusiastic positive agreement here, so don’t do it in the examples above…


A. They have to work long hours for little money; it’s dangerous too.

B. Oh dear, sounds dreadful.


Don’t nod and say- B. Mmm! Yes!

                                                             .

A. He’s very sick and may not recover from the illness.

B. I see; well, let’s hope things improve.


Don’t nod and say- B. Yes indeed!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Similarly, you respond to negative preferences by matching the sentiment-

A. I don’t like it.

B. Me neither. (Don’t say ‘Yes!’)

Or

A. I like it.

B. Me too. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Complications to note-

A. He’s not here today?

B. No. But-

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A. He’s absent today?

B. Yes (he is). xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Also-

A. D’you think it’s not good enough?

B. Yes, I do.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The main set of questions and statements below assume the answer is ‘no’: you never say ‘yes’.

However if it is ‘yes’, then you must expand on your answer to be clear-

A. The rainy season ends in July.

B. Oh, I see. So there’s no rain in August?

A. Oh yes, there is! There’ll still be some- it still rains a little.

Do not say!- A. No, no.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That’s to say-

A. No, no.

means No, no, that’s right, there’s no rain in August.


It does not mean No, no, it’s not true that there’s no rain in August (ie it will rain).


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx There are some questions or statements, with the same negative words in them, where Yes is the expected answer-

A. We’re all getting a pay rise!

B. Yes, I know.

A. Isn’t it great?

B. Yes

Yes. meaning Yes, it’s great.

     and not meaning Yes, it isn’t great.

Or-

A. 12 times 7 is 84, isn’t it?

B. Yes


Yes. meaning Yes, it is. and not meaning Yes, it isn’t.

Or-

A. They’re always pleased to see us.

B. Yes, I think so.

A. They like us, don’t they?

B. Yes

Yes. meaning Yes, they do. and not meaning Yes, they don’t.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Also, formations that usually need elaboration on, whether the answer is yes or no, include-

Do you mind if…?

And Don’t you think so?

These can be expecting either yes or no. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You just keep saying no ie whether its for the truth of a positive statement or the content of a negative statement-

This passage has 16 nos in it-

There’s no rainy season in England; it doesn’t have one, no; no, none at all; no, no rainy season, no; no, never a rainy season, no; no, there’s no season; no there isn’t one, no indeed; no season anywhere in England; no, nobody speaks of a rainy season; there is no such thing, no.

Learners wrongly change 11 of the 16 nos to yess!-

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, just say no.

Don’t mix yes and no in your answers.

Another example-

You don’t fly a helicopter do you? Don’t say- Yes, no. (or nod then shake your head) (!!)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hence, from the above ‘rainy season’ example- No- refers to the truth of the statement

No- refers to the content, not the truth (-which would be ‘yes’)

  1. 1

A. There’s more rain in some months in Korea than others.

B. I see. There’s no rainy season in England though. (easy)

  1. 2

A. There’s no season?

B. It doesn’t have one, no.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  1. 3

A. It doesn’t have one?

B. No, none at all.


  1. 4

A. None at all?

B. No, no rainy season, no.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  1. 5

A. There’s never a season?

B. No, never a rainy season, no.


  1. 6

A. There isn’t a rainy season?

B. No, there’s no season.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  1. 7

A. Doesn’t England have a season?

B. No, there isn’t one, no indeed.


  1. 8

A. No season?

B. No, no season anywhere in England.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  1. 9

A. There isn’t a season?

B. No, nobody speaks of a rainy season.


  1. 10

A. People don’t experience a rainy season?

B. There is no such thing, no.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The rest here are examples of the basic form. In the first one for instance, ‘Susan doesn’t like it’ is true, but you say no.

A. John likes soccer.

B. Yes.

A. But Susan doesn’t like it.

B. No.

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‘At immigration eg at the airport’- A. You’re entering the country at this point. Do you have any illegal foods in your baggage?

B. No.

A. No knives?

B. No.

A. Guns?

B. No.

A. Drugs?

B. No.

Sean McHugh (talk) 07:22, 1 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello

One point of that link Kalaha-vivada Sutta Further Questions is, that some scholar translated the Kalaha-vivada Sutta with Further Questions. This is very funny and intelligent. Don't you think so. Also very funny, that somebody has put a saying -a sutta- of the Buddha almost on top of the wikisite, referring to questions and answers, named Pañha Sutta or Questions, Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, [1]. The same Thanissaro Bhikkhu translated the Kalaha-vivada sutta with Quarrels & Disputes [2], which -of course- in Buddhist way of answering do not occur.

I love that link and precisely on this site. Can I reinsert it?

Austerlitz

P.S. I remember Yeshe Tsogyal and her questions to Padmasambhava and: "Thanks to His Eminence Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who upholds the heart of Padmasambhava’s teachings, for kindly explaining any question I had and for his profound instructions illuminating the depth of the view presented in this book; and to Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche for extensively teaching the Dharma over the years, including two seminars covering questions and answers between Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal. (Erik Pema Kunsang, Nagi Gompa, 1994) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.75.198.34 (talk) 17:25, 21 May 2009

Yes it's a good link, and the source text is enlightening. But it's not directly related to the subject of questions, as required by the external links guidelines. I can't think of any external link that would be appropriate in this article, given its nature, but relevant footnoted references are always welcome. Graham87 01:52, 22 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(This link must be first.) :Austerlitz -- 83.236.19.11 (talk) 14:30, 26 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What do you want to say? by "a single example isn't needed"?

Austerlitz -- 83.236.19.11 (talk) 13:31, 26 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What I should have said is "no example is needed". This article should not contain standalone examples of questions, given without context. It can use a question as an example like "a common question uttered by children on long trips is 'Are we there yet?'" It would be helpful and encyclopedic to add more about types of questions or the uses of questions. I seem to be the only person watching this article, so if you want to seek a third opinion from another experienced Wikipedia editor, feel free. I mainly watch this article for vandalism, and I don't know much about the subject ... if that makes any sense! Graham87 15:24, 26 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Syntax for marking questions?

In the Grammar section: "Most languages use syntax to distinguish interrogative sentences (which put questions) from declarative sentences (which state propositions)."

This is a rather bold claim, does anyone have a source for it? I don't think we should assume that the majority of languages mark questions grammatically.

Also, the sentence is ambiguous right now. Does it mean that a majority of languages use syntax exclusively, or usually, to mark questions? Or does it just mean that the majority languages have syntactic mechanisms for marking questions, even if they don't necessarily use them much (i.e., maybe language speakers of language Y use intonation to mark questions 90% of the time, but they could play with word order if they really wanted to.

These things need to be cleared up. If they aren't cleared up soon, then I might just rephrase that whole thing and soften up the tone, since it doesn't have any source to back up what's there now. rʨanaɢ talk/contribs 04:37, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, it's quite a bold claim. Even in English, a question can be signified by intonation and/or a punctuation mark for emphasis; compare: "he drove all the way from Miami to Yellowknife." and "He drove all the way from Miami to Yellowknife?" From the little I know of Italian, questions can also be signified by intonation and/or grammatical changes. Graham87 09:02, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I softened it up and mentioned that syntax and prosody are just two possible ways of doing it, without making any claims about which is more common or more universal (I ignored punctuation, but I consider the question mark to just be a written version of rising pitch, more or less). diff No sources handy, but it's not like this article is at FA standard or anything. I'm not a typologist, so I don't know anything about how common syntactic and prosodic question mechanicms (or any others I haven't thought of...I suppose technically you could say that the second example in the section is morphological, not syntactic, but whatever...morpho-syntactic, I'll say...who knows if morphology even exists). how common they are relative to one another, either within a single language or cross-linguistically. So, none of that stuff should be added without a source. rʨanaɢ talk/contribs 13:44, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good here. Graham87 14:33, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Cute starting quote, but...

Shorter:

Rabbi 1: "Rabbi, why does a Rabbi answer a question with a question?" Rabbi 2: "Is there a better way?"

70.36.176.224 (talk) 16:15, 3 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Questions

I am thinking about creating the Category:Questions. There are quite a few questions, such as rhetorical question, loaded question, or leading question, plus probably a few famous historical ones, to make the category viable. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 18:06, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Then it sounds like it should be called Category:Types of questions. rʨanaɢ (talk) 21:19, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I am pretty sure that would be against MoS, as "Types of..." is a pretty pointless elaboration that could be applied to most of the categories we have. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 06:20, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
But the category you're describing is not a bunch of questions; the entries in it are not themselves questions. (Such a category would contain things like "to be or not to be?", "how much wood can a woodchuck chuck?", "how did the chicken cross the road", etc.) The elements of the category are types of questions. This is different than, for example, Category:Indochine albums, where all the entries are actually Indochine albums. And I don't see anything in MoS proscribing certain kinds of category titles. rʨanaɢ (talk) 21:14, 6 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You are right. There are two types of questions. If you want to create subcategories for them, go right ahead. For now, I will simply populate the generic question categories, and I'll look forward to see how it evolves (with subcats). I do however think that "types of questions" is not a good name, still, I checked and there is already a bunch of Category:Type of... so I won't oppose it. Presumably, the other category would be Category:Questions by subject? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 01:05, 7 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I created Category:Question, and a bot will take care of recategorizing the pages. I chose this as a name because the one thing that seems to be linking together the things you categorized is that they are somehow related to questions (or, at the very least, have "question" in their title). Many of the pages are not specific questions (e.g., "yes-no question", "leading question"), may are not types of questions (e.g., "Fourteen unanswerable questions"), and many are not questions at all but are issues (e.g., "Jewish question", "woman question") or are just things that happen to have questions in them (e.g. "FAQ", "questionnaire"). Since the only thing holding all these together is that they are at least tangentially related to "Question" (at the very least, they have that word in them), none of the other names are really appropriate. Adopting the terms used at WP:Categorization#The category system, this would be a topic category rather than a set category. rʨanaɢ (talk) 04:21, 7 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]